Quadriplegic who killed New Bedford teen suing over prison treatment

WORCESTER — A man who became a quadriplegic while fleeing police after the 1994 murder of a 14-year-old New Bedford youth is suing the state alleging poor accommodations in jail.

Timothy M. Reaves was wheeled in and out of U.S. District Court in Worcester on Monday morning, his body strapped onto a gurney, his face mostly obscured under a pillow, for the start of a trial after his lawyers and the state Department of Correction were unable to reach a settlement.

He is serving life without the possibility of parole in the April 1994 murder of Daniel J. "D.J." Correia outside what was then known as United Front Homes (now Temple landing) in New Bedford.

If successful in his suit, Reaves could be awarded a significant sum from a state that has likely spent millions to house him in prison but which he alleges has neglected to afford him legally acceptable accommodations.

The state said Monday it doesn't know how much it has spent keeping Reaves imprisoned but had reportedly spent nearly $1 million by 1996.

In his lawsuit, filed in 2015 by the nonprofit Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts, Reaves argued that as a result of his disability, he’s been subjected to assaults and deprived of accommodations to which he is legally entitled.

The 53-year-old from Taunton — who was 29 at the time he, according to a jury, killed Correia during a drive-by shooting in New Bedford — testified Monday that he had urine thrown in his face, was punched in the abdomen and had his feet licked repeatedly in prison.

His lawyer, Lauren Petit, said during her opening statement that the DOC “crossed the line” in its neglect of accommodation for Reaves, and for that he deserves compensation.

According to Reaves’ complaint, the state and medical providers it contracted to serve Reaves failed to ensure he received fair treatment in jail. The medical providers have already settled with Reaves for a sum not disclosed in court documents.

Reaves has been in state custody for 24 years, the same length of time he has been a quadriplegic. He suffered his injury in a car crash while fleeing police on April 15, 1994, hours after prosecutors say he shot and killed 14-year-old Daniel J. “D.J." Correia in a drive-by shooting in New Bedford.

According to The Standard-Times, Reaves and three others committed the drive-by in retribution for youths in the area taking their money when they were trying to buy heroin.

A jury convicted Reaves of first-degree murder in 1996, with the newspaper reporting at the time that the cost of keeping him confined in the two years since the crime had reached almost $1 million.

Reaves has now been in custody 12 times as long as he had been in 1996. Jason Dobson, deputy director of communications for the state Department of Correction, said in an email Monday that he couldn’t relate how much the state has spent on Mr. Reaves’ incarceration because the DOC “does not track costs for a specific inmate.”

A panel of eight jurors began hearing evidence in the case Monday. They will not be informed of Reaves’ conviction, as Judge Timothy S. Hillman accepted an argument by Reaves’ lawyers that such knowledge would be overly prejudicial.

Hillman has already said that Reaves’ complaints have merit, as he ordered the DOC in 2016 to step up its care for the man.

In a 68-page opinion filed July 15, 2016, Hillman found that Reaves is “likely to succeed” on the merits of a number of his claims about receiving shoddy medical care and accommodations.

Hillman said the state failed to have Reaves’ care overseen by a spinal cord injury specialist, failed to provide comprehensive physical and occupational therapy, failed to provide a “comprehensive bowel program” and failed to maintain functioning hearing aids.

The judge further said that DOC has likely violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to provide Reaves with outdoor and indoor recreation, socialization, access to programming, reasonable accommodations in the shower facilities and confidentiality in his mental health care.

Reaves, under the care of three medical personnel, was wheeled to the stand Monday morning.

He testified that a cellmate at Bridgewater State Hospital, where he was held from 2011 to 2014, "ended up throwing a cup of piss in my face.”

Reaves, who spoke quickly from beneath a long gray beard, breathed heavily as he described not being able to clear the urine from his mouth or eyes. He testified he can only move his hands slightly — demonstrating for the jury — and said that assault and others left him frightened.

Reaves has been moved among correctional facilities five times in the state, according to Hillman’s memorandum, and is currently housed in the health services unit of the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Shirley.

The bulk of the evidence in the case, Hillman wrote in 2016, concerns his medical treatment while he was at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on the Lancaster-Shirley line from 2014 to 2016.

Testimony was set to resume Tuesday.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.